Jupiter Burger, E8

Burgers from the Space Age

Let’s get this straight: London definitely doesn’t need any new smash burgers. As a city we have hurled ourselves at thinner, crispier burger patties with a commitment bordering on the manic, making it hard to remember that there was ever a time burgers didn’t come smashed. Much like the once-ubiquitous floppy Neapolitan pizza is rapidly ceding ground to crispy New York and New Haven aficionados, the thick patty burger counter-movement is surely only a couple of hype cycles away.

So yes, Jupiter Burger feels a little late to the scene, with its compact menu and even smaller slabs of beef, but it does arrive with some pedigree: this is the latest venture from the team behind Dom’s Subs, who know a thing or two about bringing American-styled sandwiches to London.

For now, Jupiter is starting small. It’s taken over the former Lucky Chip stall in Hackney’s Netil Market, replacing its all-black façade with a whitewashed ‘50s sci-fi aesthetic that’s befitting of Jupiter’s obvious admiration for mid-century Californian burger stands.

The most obvious inspiration is In-N-Out, whose not-so-secret off-menu ‘Animal Style’ burger takes top billing here as the ‘Jupiter Burger’: a cheeseburger fried with mustard and onions, topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and the house burger sauce. It’s joined on the menu by a simple cheeseburger (pickles, ketchup, mustard), and a house-made vegetarian option which they say takes its inspiration from New York’s acclaimed vegetarian Superiority Burger. Fries come included as standard, and drinks are limited to a Coke or a Five Points Lager, though shakes are apparently in the works.

Anyone who read my recent guide to London’s best burgers will know I’m a purist, so I started with the regular cheeseburger. This is as simple as simple gets, but all the better for it: fatty, characterful beef from nearby butcher Hill & Szrok is cooked crisp enough to amp up the flavour, but not so hard that it dries out. There’s a toasted Martin’s potato roll — the gold standard — to mop up the juices, plus a good hit of sweet pickles to balance out the condiments. This is a fast food burger as it should be, and for £10 including fries, decent value too.

Personally, I’d stick there rather than upgrade to the £12 Jupiter, which I tried on a return visit. The browned onions and extra dollop of pickles are very welcome in my eyes, but like most burgers with lettuce in, it quickly devolves into a greasy slip-n-slide — what you gain in flavour, you give up in structural integrity. Yes, I know, I’m the one weirdo shouting about burger architecture here, but humour me.

I just wish there was an option to upgrade to an extra patty on either burger — In-N-Out’s Animal Style may be here, but the Double-Double ain’t. For now, the best way to bulk out your meal is by following it up with a quick slice from next-door NY-style slice shop Gordo’s, for a complete coast-to-coast experience.

Jupiter only opened in December, and as you’d expect from any new spot there’s probably some improvement to come, hopefully in the form of some (limited) menu expansion. There’s some obvious inconsistency so far — there was a different chef working for each of my two visits, and the latter delivered crisper fries and a better burger, albeit with the oddity that my Jupiter burger was served without its slice of tomato. These feel like familiar teething pains though, so I’d expect the cooking (and tomatoes) to even out in time.

So no, London doesn’t need any new smash burgers, and a nod to In-N-Out isn’t enough to make Jupiter stand out from a competitive pack led by the likes of The Plimsoll and Whole Beast. But it’s a damn good burger all the same, and no city can ever have too many of those.